Logos Bible Study

Lamentations 4:4–6

The NET BibleOther versions

English

Arabic

Czech

French

German

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Korean

Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Simplified Chinese

Spanish

Traditional Chinese

ד (Dalet)

4:4The infant’s tongue sticks

to the roof of its mouth due to thirst;

little children beg for bread,13

but no one gives them even a morsel.14

ה (He)

4:5Those who once feasted on delicacies15

are now starving to death16 in the streets.

Those who grew up17 wearing expensive clothes18

are now dying19 amid garbage.20

ו (Vav)

4:6The punishment21 of my people22

exceeded that of23 of Sodom,

which was overthrown in a moment

with no one to help her.24

Read in Logos

Footnotes

  1. 13 Heb “bread.” The term “bread” might function as a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for general (= food); however, the following parallel line does indeed focus on the act of breaking bread in two.
  2. 14 Heb “there is not a divider to them.” The term פָּרַשׂ (paras), Qal active participle from פָּרַס (paras, “to divide”) refers to the action of breaking bread in two before giving it to a person to eat (Isa 58:7; Jer 16:7; Lam 4:4). The form פָּרַשׂ (paras) is the alternate spelling of the more common פָּרַס (paras).
  3. 15 Heb “eaters of delicacies.” An alternate English gloss would be “connoisseurs of fine foods.”
  4. 16 Heb “are desolate.”
  5. 17 Heb “were reared.”
  6. 18 Heb “in purple.” The term תוֹלָע (tola’, “purple”) is a figurative description of expensive clothing: it is a metonymy of association: the color of the dyed clothes (= purple) stands for the clothes themselves.
  7. 19 Heb “embrace garbage.” One may also translate “rummage through” (cf. “pick through trash piles”; “pawing through refuse”; “search the garbage pits.”
  8. 20 The Hebrew word אַשְׁפַּתּוֹת (’ashpatot) can also mean “ash heaps.” Though not used as a combination elsewhere, to “embrace ash heaps” might also envision a state of mourning or even dead bodies lying on the ash heaps.
  9. 21 The noun עֲוֹן (’avon) has a basic two-fold range of meanings: (1) basic meaning: “iniquity, sin” and (2) metonymical cause for effect meaning: “punishment for iniquity.”
  10. 22 Heb “the daughter of my people.”
  11. 23 Heb “the sin of.” The noun חַטָּאת (khatta’t) often means “sin, rebellion,” but here it probably functions in a metonymical (cause for effect) sense: “punishment for sin” (e.g., Zech 14:19). The context focuses on the severity of the punishment of Jerusalem rather than the depths of its degradation and depravity that led to the judgment.
  12. 24 Heb “without a hand turned.” The preposition ב (bet) after the verb חוּל (khul) in Hos 11:6 is adversative “the sword will turn against [Assyria’s] cities.” Other contexts with חוּל (khul) plus ב (bet) are not comparable (ב [bet] often being locative). However, it is not certain that hands must be adversarial as the sword clearly is in Hos 11:6. The present translation pictures the suddenness of Sodom’s overthrow as an easier fate than the protracted military campaign and subsequent exile and poverty of Judah’s survivor’s.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

The tongue of the nursing infant sticks

to the roof of its mouth for thirst;

the children beg for food,

but no one gives to them.

Those who once feasted on delicacies

perish in the streets;

those who were brought up in purple

embrace ash heaps.

For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater

than the punishment of Sodom,

which was overthrown in a moment,

and no hands were wrung for her.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Because of thirst the infant’s tongue

sticks to the roof of its mouth;

the children beg for bread,

but no one gives it to them.

Those who once ate delicacies

are destitute in the streets.

Those brought up in royal purple

now lie on ash heaps.

The punishment of my people

is greater than that of Sodom,

which was overthrown in a moment

without a hand turned to help her.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The nursing baby’s tongue

clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst.

Infants beg for food,

but no one gives them any.

Those who used to eat delicacies

are destitute in the streets;

those who were reared in purple garments

huddle in trash heaps.

The punishment of my dear people

is greater than that of Sodom,

which was overthrown in an instant

without a hand laid on it.

NLTNew Living Translation

The parched tongues of their little ones

stick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst.

The children cry for bread,

but no one has any to give them.

The people who once ate the richest foods

now beg in the streets for anything they can get.

Those who once wore the finest clothes

now search the garbage dumps for food.

The guilt of my people

is greater than that of Sodom,

where utter disaster struck in a moment

and no hand offered help.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

The tongue of the nursling cleaves

to its palate in thirst.

Children beg for food,

no one lays it out before them.

The ones who eat delicacies,

they are ruined in the streets;

the ones nurtured in purple

lie on piles of trash.

The iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater

than the sin of Sodom;

it was overthrown in a moment

and no hands were laid on her.

KJV 1900King James Version

The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst:

The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.

They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets:

They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom,

That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.